Well, good evening.
Let me invite you to turn once again in the Pew Bibles,
this time to John chapter 1, verses 1 through 18.
That's page 833 in the Bible in front of you.
John chapter 1, we're going to look at verses 1 through 18.
Let me read the Gospel of John for us.
And the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him.
He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made through him.
Yet, the world did not know him.
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children of God,
who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
John bore witness about him and cried out,
This was he of whom I said,
He who comes after me ranks before me,
because he was before me.
For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.
For the law was given through Moses.
Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God.
The only God who is at the Father's side,
he has made him known.
One of the great struggles of any writer or any speaker
is to find just the right word to get across to your audience
what you want them to feel and know.
Mark Twain once said,
The difference between the almost right word and the right word
is a really large matter.
Tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.
Maybe you can relate.
Have you ever struggled to find just the right word?
Whether composing a tricky email at work
or having an awkward conversation with a family member?
We get a lot of those around this time of year, don't we?
Or maybe writing a note of thanks to your friend.
How do you capture what's in your mind and heart
and really get it across?
It can be tough.
Often, we hope for the lightning
but end up with little more than lightning bugs.
Well, the Gospel of John begins by telling us about a word.
But this word, at long last, is the right word.
The word that brings life and light.
For this word is the word that does something
that no other word has been able to do.
This is the word that makes God known.
Look again at verse 18 if you have it open.
At first, John in verse 18 sounds like a good skeptic.
No one has ever seen God, he says.
God, after all, is God.
And if God is God, the infinite creator of all things,
we shouldn't just expect to see him around
like some other object, right?
Like we see a chair at Ikea.
Imagine a play by Shakespeare.
You know, no matter how long Hamlet searches and searches
in his literary Denmark,
he's never going to meet Shakespeare.
He's never going to run across Shakespeare in his play
like he meets Rosencrantz or Guildenstern.
And so, John says,
it's the same with God.
No one has ever seen God.
And when you think about it,
at the same time,
that hasn't stopped human beings
from talking a lot about God, has it?
And struggling to find the right words to describe God.
Just think of all the words that we use.
Infinite, eternal, holy, omnipotent.
These words sound like lightning.
But who's to say that they're not just lightning bugs after all?
No one, after all, has ever seen God.
But what if,
what if God chose to make himself known?
What if God had just the right word to say
that would communicate all he is to us?
What if in this world,
flickering with lightning bugs,
God himself would send the lightning?
And that's what the opening of John's gospel is all about.
And that's what Christmas is all about.
That word has come.
The perfect word.
A word that from all eternity was with God.
A word that from all eternity was and is God.
And when the fullness of time had come,
a word that became flesh and dwelt among us.
When I was in middle school,
the internet was relatively still a new thing.
And I remember in computer class,
after about 10 minutes that it took to dial up to the internet.
Remember when you had to dial up to the internet?
After logging in,
we would send emails to students in other parts of the country.
Sort of like electronic pen pals.
And of course, we take that for granted now, don't we?
But what an amazing thing.
We can share spoken and written words with people across the globe
in a fraction of a second.
And that's wonderful because there's so much that words can actually do.
There's so much of ourselves that we can share.
But imagine, what if after years of writing,
after years of messages traded across impossible distances,
suddenly you meet your correspondent,
your friend in person,
in the flesh.
You see, friends, the reality is God had been speaking
for thousands of years.
At many times and in many ways,
God spoke through means of prophets and dreams and visions
and oracles and written words.
But on Christmas night,
the word became flesh.
God arrived in person.
In Jesus Christ,
the word himself was present for all to see,
for all to hear,
for all to know.
No one has ever seen God,
but then the word became flesh
and dwelt among us.
Shakespeare, as it were,
wrote himself into the play.
The one who had sent letter after letter after letter at long last,
crossed the ocean of eternity
and dwelt right in our midst.
And the result of this,
John says,
is that it's like light shining in our darkness.
Light that darkness cannot overcome.
And in verse 14,
John uses a very particular word for this light.
He uses the word glory.
Now, in the Old Testament,
when Moses longed to know God,
Moses asked God for a glimpse of his glory.
And so God hid Moses in the cleft of a rock
and the side of a mountain
and then passed by.
And Moses didn't see God,
but in that moment,
God spoke
and God proclaimed himself
to be compassionate and gracious
and at the same time,
just and righteous.
In other words,
the glory of God
is that he is a God of perfect justice
and perfect compassion
at the same time.
And now,
in Jesus,
John says,
we can see
this perfect justice
and perfect compassion,
this divine glory
in human flesh.
Now, most of our experience
is of one or the other,
isn't it?
Either justice
or compassion.
Either the sentence of the law
or the leniency of mercy.
We usually have one or the other.
But read the Gospels for yourself.
Consider how Jesus
is able to interact always
with justice
and with compassion.
whether it's with a skeptical disciple
like Nathaniel
or whether it's with a marginalized outsider
like the Samaritan woman
at the well
or whether it's with a fearful
but curious religious authority
like Nicodemus
or whether it's with a pair
of grieving sisters
like Mary and Martha.
There is always in Jesus
this perfect justice
and compassion.
But the greatest display
of Jesus' glory
will be seen
at the end of his ministry
where in his own person
the full justice
and the full compassion of God
will be displayed.
But at that moment
it won't be
from a throne
amidst kings.
And it won't be
in the temple
amidst the priests
and the religious authorities.
And it won't be
surrounded by
admiring onlookers.
No, the light
of the glory of God
in Jesus
will shine
most brightly
in the darkness
of the cross.
Because there
the justice of God
against human sin
and the mercy of God
for human sinners
will both be taken up
and fulfilled
when Jesus speaks
his final word
from the cross.
It is finished.
Finished.
The word
is spoken.
The light
has come.
But tragically
as John's prologue
tells us
here in verses
10 and 11
our natural response
to this word
and to this light
will actually be
to reject him.
He was in the world
and the world
was made through him
yet
the world
did not know him.
He came to his own
and his own people
did not receive him.
How strange
and broken
we human beings are.
When the word
is spoken
we close our ears
and when the light
is shining
we shut our eyes
rejecting the one
who is life itself.
and yet
this is not
how it has to be.
Verse 12 says
but to all
who did receive him
who believed
in his name
he gave the right
to become children
of God
who were born
not of blood
nor of the will
of flesh
nor of the will
of man
but born of God.
Do you see
what John is saying?
The ancient church fathers
used to put it like this
they said
the son of God
became a son of man
so that sons of men
could become
the children of God.
The incarnation
opened up
a new reality
for us humans.
The reality
that we can not
just know about God
but that we can
know God
and even more
be known by God
as his sons
and daughters.
That is that we can
be reconciled
to him.
And what that means
is that Jesus
isn't just
God's word
to us
but Jesus
has to become
our word
to God.
What do I mean
by that?
If you were
to meet God
what words
would you say?
What words
would you speak
to God
in order
to be
accepted
by him
to know
his life
and favor
to enter
into his light?
What would you
start talking about
in that moment?
Would it be
your intellectual
rigors?
Your moral
accomplishments?
Your family
background?
Your religious
observances?
words
will flicker
like a lightning
bug
and then
go dark.
The only
word
that we can
speak
before the
presence of
God
is the word
God has
given to us.
The incarnate
Son
our Lord
Jesus Christ
Christ.
To those
who received
him
who believed
on his
name
he gave
the right
to become
children
of God.
And so
friends,
brothers and
sisters,
the good news
of Christmas
is this.
not just
that God
has spoken
his word
to you
in Jesus
so that
you might
at last
truly know
him
and what
good news
that is
that we
can know
God
but that
this word
can become
your word
as well
so that
in Jesus
you might
join God's
family
and know
his life
and light.
Finally
the right
word
now that
is
lightning
and the
darkness
has not
and will
not
overcome
it.
Let's
pray.
Lord Jesus
how familiar
to many
of us
this time
of Christmas
is.
Lord how
often we've
read some
of these
texts before
and yet
we also
acknowledge
that for
some of
us here
tonight
these things
are brand
new.
God we
ask that
you would
open our
eyes and
our hearts
to receive
this word
afresh
that Jesus
has come
to show
us God
what you
are like
and to
bring us
home to
your family.
Oh Lord
would this
Christmas time
be a time
of relishing
and enjoying
and perhaps
even grasping
the truth
about Jesus
for the first
time.
we pray
all this
in his
name.
Amen.